Santa Cat
by Healer Teddylonglong
Summary: ONE-SHOT. Eight-year-old Dudley Dursley tries to play Harry a prank by dressing a tabby cat that he finds on the garden wall in a Santa suit, unaware that his prank will have far-reaching consequnces for Harry. Completely AU, set before Hogwarts. Just a little drabble for Christmas.


**Santa Cat**  
**by Healer Pomfrey**

_All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.  
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes._

* * *

While eight-year-old Dudley Dursley was impatiently waiting for his cousin to make breakfast in the morning of Christmas Eve, he noticed that a tabby cat was sitting on the garden wall, apparently peering into the kitchen.

All of a sudden, an idea crossed his mind, and he jumped from his seat. "I'll be back in a few minutes," he shouted to his mother and dashed away, pulling his warm winter jacket over as he left the house through the front door.

_'I'm going to play a prank on the freak,'_ he thought, feeling very much contented that he had been able to come up with such a good plan. As fast as he could, he ran into Mrs. Figg's garden. Just a few days ago, he had seen that some of the old lady's cats were wearing red Santa suits. _'I hope I'll be able to get one,'_ he thought and - making sure that the old woman was nowhere around - leaned down to one of the cats and took off the Santa suit. "It doesn't suit you anyway," he told the cat, eyeing the animal with disgust.

_'That went well,'_ he thought and hurried back home, where he made his way straight into the garden, sighing in relief upon realising that the cat was still sitting on the wall.

He approached the cat and lifted her right front paw in order to dress her with the Santa suit. However, this did not go well with the cat, who extended her claws and scratched Dudley's hand. This made not stop the boy, however, on the contrary. _'I won't have a cat tell me what to do and what not,'_ he thought and forced the tabby cat into the Santa suit, noticing contentedly that the cat - apart from scratching him another couple of times - did neither fight him nor flee but remained sitting on the wall in her new suit.

Back in the kitchen, Dudley excitedly told his mother, "Mum, Father Christmas is in the garden, disguised as a cat. He seems to be watching us."

From the corner of his eyes, Dudley saw that not only his mother and father, but also Harry, the freak, turned their eyes to view the Santa cat.

"Oh well, I wanted to take you to London for some last minute Christmas shopping anyway," Petunia replied, and the three Dursleys swiftly left the house after wolfing down their breakfast and instructing Harry to cook all the meals from the list.

HP

Harry immediately began to cook, knowing that he was going to be busy the whole day in order to cook all the meals that his relatives needed over Christmas, while he was going to be locked into his cupboard so that he wouldn't disturb them.

However, he could not prevent himself from letting his eyes wander to the Santa cat who seemed to not get tired watching him cook the whole day.

_'Maybe I should go and ask him why he never brings presents for me,'_ Harry mused. _'I know that I'm a freak, but I don't think that I'm so much worse than Dudley.'_ Seeing that the Santa cat still seemed to observe his every move, Harry decided to speak with him and hurried to finish his cooking. It was almost getting dark, when he finally completed his work. However, to his relief, Father Christmas in his cat form was still sitting on the wall, and Harry hesitantly stepped out into the garden.

"Excuse me, Father Christmas," he addressed the cat in a small voice. "I'm sorry to disturb you. I would just like to know why I never get a Christmas present, although I think that Dudley behaves much worse. I know that I'm just a good for nothing freak..." He slowly trailed off, looking at the Santa cat in expectation.

However, to his surprise, instead of replying to his question, Father Christmas merely let out a series of meaows that Harry did not understand.

"Excuse me sir," Harry enquired, "do you understand me?"

The cat nodded, causing Harry to consider his situation. _'In order to understand Father Christmas, since he seems not inclined to change back into his human form, I probably have to change into a cat. How can I do that though?'_ he wondered, before he came to the conclusion that he could only try wishing himself to be a cat. _'I hope it'll work,'_ he thought, knowing that he sometimes succeeded if he wished something, while at other times it did not work.

He made his right arm tingly like he always did when he wanted to do something freaky and wished himself to be a cat like Father Christmas, putting all his energy into the wish.

An instant later, he found himself much nearer to the ground, and his vision had expanded greatly. However, he felt incredibly tired. _'I did it. I'm a cat,'_ he thought, happily. He tried to jump up onto the wall that suddenly seemed much higher than it had been before. Unfortunately, he was not able to jump high enough and fell back onto the ground.

=Wait, little one. Don't hurt yourself,= the Santa cat suddenly addressed him and jumped from the wall to sit right next to him.

=Father Christmas,= Harry replied in amazement. =Thank you so much for coming and speaking to me. It's all right. I mean, the matter with the presents. I know that I'm a freak and don't deserve one.=

However, the other cat stared at him in apparent disbelief.

=You're Harry, aren't you?=

=Yes,= Harry replied in a small voice, anxiously eyeing Father Christmas.

=I'm not Father Christmas dear,= the other cat then said. =I'm Minerva McGonagall, a professor at Hogwarts. I assume that you know Hogwarts?=

=No,= Harry replied in confusion. =I'm sorry.=

=No dear, there's nothing that you need to be sorry for,= the other cat replied, gently, before she proceeded to tell him about Hogwarts, magic, his parents and that he was supposed to attend Hogwarts in two and a half years' time.

Harry's eyes widened upon hearing what the professor told him. _'This is too good to be true,'_ he thought, feeling utterly relieved and happy at the prospect of leaving the Dursleys sooner or later.

When the professor finally said, =It's already dark, Harry, and I believe that you should return inside now before your relatives worry where you are,= Harry shook his head in determination.

=No professor, I won't go inside,= he replied, firmly. =They'd only lock me into my cupboard. Now that I know that I'll get to go to Hogwarts in two and a half years' time, I won't return there. Maybe I can live as a cat until then.=

The professor shot him a sharp look, before she made a decision and said in a soft voice, =I'll take you with me to Hogwarts then. We'll ask the headmaster if you may stay at Hogwarts, and in the worst case, you'll just have to hide in your cat form.=

=Yes, please,= Harry replied, eagerly, before a sudden thought struck his mind. =Professor,= he spoke up, questioningly, =why is it that you're wearing a Santa suit if you're not Father Christmas?=

=That was your cousin,= McGonagall replied in apparent annoyance. =I scratched him a few times, but he didn't let go, and since I didn't want to hurt him, I didn't fight him. It's very irritating though.=

=Dudley really is annoying,= Harry full heartedly agreed, before he wished himself back into his human form and gently helped the cat out of the Santa suit.

The cat profusely thanked him, and to his surprise, he was suddenly able to comprehend her meaows. _'Maybe that's because I changed into a cat earlier,'_ he thought, feeling incredibly happy at the news that he had received from the other cat on this Christmas Eve.

He observed with interest how the other cat stepped right next to the garage and transformed into an old lady, dressed in a burgundy one-piece. She leaned down to him and smiled. "Now Harry, are you sure that you wish to go with me?" she enquired in a strict voice, causing the boy to nod, eagerly.

HP

Five minutes and an apparition - which Harry found very unpleasant - later, he walked next to the kind professor towards the castle, which looked enormous with its large towers that stood dark in the moonlight.

"Harry," the professor spoke up again, "as I said earlier, it might be that Professor Dumbledore, our headmaster, insists that you have to return to your relatives. In that case, if you're sure that you don't want to go back, we'll have to hide you in your cat form. Are you sure that this is what you want?"

_'She already said that earlier,'_ Harry thought, before he cast the professor a genuine smile and replied, "Today is the happiest day of my life. If I can stay at Hogwarts, the question if it'll be it in my human form or my cat form won't change that tomorrow is going to be my best Christmas ever. Thank you very much, Professor." With that, he once again changed into his cat form and followed the professor into the castle, where she left him in her private quarters together with her school friends Poppy and Rolanda, while she went to speak with the headmaster about one small boy's unfortunate home life.

HP

As could be expected, Professor Dumbledore refused to remove Harry from the Dursleys, and McGonagall and her two best friends discussed the matter for hours, while cat Harry was peacefully asleep in front of the fireplace.

On Christmas Day, McGonagall received an extraordinary gift from her best friends. It was a black kitten with emerald eyes, which was dressed in a Santa cat's costume that efficiently hid a faint white line above the kitten's right eyebrow.

**The End**


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